Lowest powered system for max output

[ChristianVirtual]

if you had the job to build a system with two 980Ti (250W each) for 24/7 folding but want as less as possible energy for CPU and MB ...
What components would you choose ?

Xeon D sounds interesting but not sure if any board would support two GPUs as mentioned ?

 

[jfb9301]

I have not really done much research on this subject, but I stumbled across this article recently. I don't think this is a complete solution, but he has done some of your research already.

Fluffy2 - 5.9 Watt high-end desktop computer - mux' blog - Tweakblogs - Tweakers

His rig runs on 5.9 watts, but I don't think it has the PCIe's you need. Probably need to find a different board, but I think he is on a track with the CPU.

based upon a quick read, you would be best served by the most basic intel mATX you can find that has 2 PCIe 3.0 8 lane slots..... not really keeping with his goals, but you have different needs. He does have some solid advice to minimize your power needs more than just for the mainboard and CPU.

 

[plext0r]

if you had the job to build a system with two 980Ti (250W each) for 24/7 folding but want as less as possible energy for CPU and MB ...
What components would you choose ?

Xeon D sounds interesting but not sure if any board would support two GPUs as mentioned ?

I think you're heading down the right trail, but I'm not sure a Xeon D is cost effective compared to any other low-end desktop CPU. I just read this interesting article from Facebook's Blog about deploying the Xeon D to replace dual-CPU hosts and improve their performance.

Facebook's new front-end server design delivers on performance without sucking up power

 

[Nathan_P]

I'm planning something similar, either with a ivy or haswell E3-1220L, you can get boards for both that have PCIe3 x8 as a minimum, if you want to spend a bit more cash there are a few boards that will do 4 x PCIe3 x8